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A FIRE YESTERDAY at a storage unit in Ballymount, Dublin has destroyed materials belonging to a charity.
The blaze at the ‘Store-It’ facility destroyed The Cleft Lip and Palate Association of Ireland’s (CLAPAI) stock of materials that it distributes to first-time parents.
The charity’s maternity packs serve as a guide to parents who have children born with clefts.
Speaking about the damage, CLAPAI chairperson Georgina Wade, said, “most times parents will not know that a baby with a cleft is about to be born. It is a surprise and can be more than worrying and confusing. The biggest problems that new parents face are fear and practical advise on how to feed their new baby.”
The maternity packs provide a solid, accurate and helpful source to parents to get them through the first hours and days.
PICTURES: 50 firefighters deal with major blaze at storage unit off M50
The charity purchases the material it stored at the warehouse in bulk and estimates that the cost of the goods lost in the fire is around €8,000. They are now appealing to the public to donate to the charity via their website to help them replenish their stocks.
The group is a voluntary organisation that distributes its materials through medical facilities and individual parents around the country and receives no government funding.
The alarm was raised yesterday morning at around 10.15. The storage facility is located just off of the M50 motorway.
Dublin Fire Brigade / TwitterCurrently dealing with large fire in the Ballymount area. This will be a prolonged incident. Plz take care in area. pic.twitter.com/jVwcLEL6EJ
— Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) April 29, 2015
The scene was attended by gardaí and ten fire units, including two aerial appliances and an incident command unit. This saw a total of around 50 fire fighters at the scene.
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Passed by the scene yesterday and it looked dreadful. Fair play to the Fire Team who put it out byt what made it worse than it already was were the gobsh*tes on the M50 slowing down to get a look at what was happening.
And before someone asks. No I wasn’t driving I was in the passenger seat.
This organisation are so important to families. Our daughter was born with a cleft 2 years go and they helped so much. All the leaflets no packs and bottles were destroyed hope people can help them to replace everything.
Was there no insurance?
My kitchen went on fire 2 months ago and I’m still waiting for my check. Insurance companies take a long time. They probably need the stuff now!
Asking about insurances is a valid question. There’s a lot of demands on charities and a niche one like this needs to explain what will happen when the insurance comes through. If they need a loan to bridge that insurance gap fair enough.
That’s pretty crap. Sounds like insurance companies need a shake up!
Ya lets ban those damn fires! Hot and smelly yolks!
This has to stop its a disgrace, happening too often now and the smoke from these fires is toxic it does cover walkinstown and drimnagh especially the big fire last year
And how do you propose we stop it Dec ? Fires give off toxic smoke. Anyone who was affected was advised to stay indoors and close their windows whilst the fire was at its peak.
“and receives no government funding.” This week the government released a “spring statement” about how they plan to improve things but charities such as this receive no funding from the government….
have your say